Practical Photography

In my last post I wrote about the difficulty of taking photos of animals but
another tricky area of photography is managing to take photographs of babies
and young children. Unless they are asleep, getting a young child to stay still
for a photograph can be as hard as taking a photograph of an animal. I once did
a photo shoot with a Coronation Street celebrity and her 4 month old baby, we
only had the studio for 3 hours so we got a few photos at the start, then she
fed her baby and it fell asleep! Rather than wake the baby up we had to change
the whole dynamic of the photo shoot to accommodate for the fact that the star
of the photo shoot was now a sleep.

Recently my aunt’s golden retriever had 9 puppies and obviously we were desperate to get lots of adorable images of them to keep and show potential owners via a website online but we were faced with the common problem of how to take photos of moving pets. However one way to overcome this is to select the correct shutter speed, the shutter speed should be set to 1/125 for pet photos in order to reduce the chance of capturing just a blur of fur. It is also important that you have a digital camera as this will allow you to snap away as many photos as you need without wasting expensive film, this will also let you look at the photos and assess whether or not you have the desired image.

When getting married one of the most important aspects of the day is the photography. Once all the excitement of the big day is over the wedding photos are the images that will be looked at and displayed in the home for the rest of their lives. Therefore ensuring that you get the images that you want is paramount, even if it does mean an evil photographer who shouts orders at the bridesmaids all day. I think that one of the best ideas that a friend of friend did before her big day was to go for a trial with her chosen photographer. They practiced different posses, different colours, and different lightings so that on the big day the wedding photographer knew exactly what the couple wanted.

Well, it’s that time of year again when everyone will be jetting off on their holidays armed with their cameras in the hope of getting a decent shot of a local monument and iconic building. There are some simple tips that everyone can use when taking holiday snaps. Firstly ensure that you get down to the level of the person or product that you want to photograph. Secondly use a plain background so that the main focus of your shot is not distracted from a colourful or busy background. It is also important that in some circumstances that you use a flash outside as this will ensure that the whole image comes out in the same brightness. Also move in close to your chosen image as this will allow lots of detail to be picked up by your camera that could be missed if you take the shot from far away.

At the beginning of June a new photography exhibition opened at the Tate Modern called Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera. Controversy surrounded this exhibition as it featured images made without the explicit permission of the subject. This is what the general public are constantly exposed to; a surveillance society where one never knows whether or not they are being watched. Ironically, surrounding the photography exhibition is the Tate Modern’s very own surveillance system which monitors and records the movements of all the visitors, clearly the Tate has accepted and embraced the fact that we are constantly living under the gaze of Bentham’s Panopticon. This exhibition conveys the history of spying with a lens in over 250 photographs.

It seems that a Google technician made a bit of a slip up while out and about recording photographs for the Google Maps application/website.

While out taking pictures for the Google Maps Street View feature using a special vehicle-mounted 360 degree camera, the picture below cropped up. The picture appears to depict a giant pair of pliers flying through the sky over West Bromwich.

Apparently the tool was accidentally left on the camera after the Google tech person had been performing some maintenance on the camera. The image was then inadvertently uploaded to the Google Maps server.

Unfortunately, Google have since wised up to the mistake and swiftly removed the troublesome photograph. Nice bit of free publicity for the search engine giant though, eh?

Ex Take That pop group member and pop sensation in his own right, Robbie Williams is to back COOLPIX in a series of adverts that are due to run over the Easter break.

The advertisements are an attempt by COOLPIX to show how their Nikon COOLPIX range of digital cameras can be used for photography by real people in real situations, regardless of being a novice or an expert.

The Nikon COOLPIX cameras are all based on a point-and-shoot concept, which makes them ideal for beginners. However the range also includes feature-rich digital cameras and so, is likely to appeal to experienced photographers too.

With Christmas approaching very quickly I had the horrible realisation that I haven’t done nearly enough present buying yet! I still have a million and one presents to buy and by now I usually have at least decided what everyone is getting!! But racking my brains I thought this year I would buy my Mum a calendar. Every year she buys me one by a photographer that I just love. So I thought I would return the favour this year. She is a photography nut and has now become a professional and I think would not only love a calendar but would be inspired by the photographs in her own work. I personally believe that calendars can be great presents. There are so many available, funny ones are my favourites but you can buy celebrity ones, charity ones, very serious black and white ones and by far the corniest ones are the puppy and kitten ones.
Ok so some of the calendars available can be a bit dodgy but I think they are always a good stocking filler especially for that one awkward person in your family who never wants anything.
Well good luck to you all for your Christmas shopping – hope yours is going better than mine!!!

The ghostly pictures keep coming - i told you once i get the bit between my teeth i have to find more

These next couple really do look very really - i wouldn’t have a clue about how you fact them.. my only question is why you would take a picture of a road  or a grave yard…..???????

There is a strange tale abourt teh crossing in San Antonio, Texas. The story goes there was a tragic accident in which several school-aged children were killed at teh cross roads. Her ghosts linger at the spot and will push idled cars across the tracks, even though the path is uphill.

The owner said of te picture taken “It was really freaky. It appears to be a little girl carrying a teddy bear.”

The next one was taken in 1963 by Reverend K. F. Lord at Newby Church in North Yorkshire. There has been much said about this and rumours biut more because it is sooo good. The scary face and because it stares into the camera looks too perfect but i think ir just a clever double exposure.

I have always been fascinated with pictures people claim to have ghost of them. I always think a) they have had a few to many or b) i am sure if you look at them long enough you can see anything you want!
Well here are some of my favourite!

In this photo taken by the ladies husband of the woman took the picture on with ordinary print film. They had just moved to Chicago, Illinois and the picture was taken in the houses back garden. In the window to the left it shows an older woman and a bulldog to her… guess what there was no one in the house!

This next one serioulsy does give me chilly willys. This picture was taken with ctv camera at Hampton Court Palace in London. Jane Seymour, Henry the 8th third wife, died there giving birth to a son, and her ghost is said to walk the courtyards carrying a candle.